DIY Stamped Gift Tags

I have been on a kick recently about making stamped gift tags.  

I have all sorts of stamps I have collected over the years and they are now being put to use. 

And if you don't have the right stamp for the right occasion, 

they are super easy and cheap over on ebay.

Here's what you need:

-Plain Manilla Tags or Make Your Own 

out of stock paper and a tag punch (which I do a lot!)

I got my punch on ebay.

-Stamp of choice

 

-String 

( I love bakers twine and it comes in all sorts of various colors)

Then simply just get to stamping up your favorite designs! 

String it and you are done!

So super easy and the designs are only limited to your imagination really!

Here's some of my recent sets.  I tend to make them in sets of 25. 

That amount fits great in my little baggies.

Oh yea, some of them I like to "Grungy" up. 

I think it makes them a bit more primitive looking.

But you must do this before stamping, or so I've learned so that the stamped

design doesn't run.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST

To do so, I just mix a bit of brown craft paint into a small amount of water.

I then dip the tags down into the mix, 

lay them on a baking sheet and back for about 10 minutes in a 400* oven.

Take out, set aside and cool. And then I go back and brush on a bit of Vanilla Extract.

It takes a bit of time, but it is o'so worth it!

Here's a close up of some of my "grungy" tags:

Whether you choose to make your tags grungy or not, I'm sure they will be super cute.

CLICK HERE FOR MY GRUNGY TAG RECIPE POST 

These are awesome to tie onto gifts or to just decorate your primitives with.

I also even just add them as a "Made by" tag for some of my handmade crafts now and then.

Till next time,

Happy Crafting Ya'll,

~Lisa

Grungy Tags Recipe Without Tea or Coffee

I've been making my own old grungy tags for a while now. And I've seen many posts on ways to get the grungy look. Some of them involve coffee, some involve tea or such. Well, my recipe doesn't use either. It may be since I don't drink either. lol. And I've just learned to try to use what's close at hand. Oh, in the past, I did however borrow some coffee from my aunt and tried that, but I didn't like the smell.

Anyways, here's how I make my new white string tags look old and grungy.

I start out with these stark, white tags found in the office section at WalMart:

Then I mix up a bowl of "grungy stuff." It consists of approximately 75% water and 25% Apple Barrel acrylic paint, in the color of Nutmeg Brown. The water is a little thick, when I get it just right.

Then I dip each one in the mix and lay them out on an old cookie sheet. Then I even take my paintbrush and dab on extra "grungy stuff," to make sure they are grungy enough for my liking. Don't worry about the other side, they will also get good color from the baking in the next step.

Then I set the oven to 400* and stick them in.

And then I wait. Keeping a good eye on them, since I have the oven at 400*. Usually it only takes about 8-10 minutes until they start to crisp up and appear totally dry. Mine usually look like this below:

And then after I let them cool for a minute or two, I get out my stamps and ink. I like to use the "Old Crow," bird stamp and the "Weeping Willow Tree," stamp most of the time.

I ordered my stamps from eBay and got my ink at the local Dollar Mart. I only stamp one side so that I can put my booth # and price on the other. And to keep a clean work area, I lay out some strips of wax paper.

 
A little thing I do time to time, mostly around spring, is to add some candle "oil flavorings" (found at Walmart in the candle section) to the tags after they dry and before the stamps go on. I just brush it on with a regular paint brush. And boy, does it make my tags smell good. As soon as you walk in my Booth #555 the aroma hits you. I usually use food flavorings such as butterscotch rum to do this. I read somewhere that alot of people have allergies (including me) and yet the food smells tend to bother them way less than any flower smell. And when a shopper is smelling a great food smell, they may linger longer in your booth! lol. Here's to hopeing!

Happy Crafting ya'll.